Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Orange County, Texas, has about 86,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, six city agencies and one other agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the Orange County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Orange County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Orange County
The Orange County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Orange County. It reported 1,262 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists six cities in Orange County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Orange, 19,275 residents: 229 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bridge City, 9,806 residents: 85 arrests reported for 2025.
- Vidor, 9,686 residents: 78 arrests reported for 2025.
- West Orange, 3,397 residents: 29 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pinehurst, 2,226 residents: 19 arrests reported for 2025.
- Rose City, 341 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The Port Arthur Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Orange County, so its arrests are not broken out for Orange County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Orange County: the Bridge City Independent School District (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Orange County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Orange County Sheriff's Office: 1,262 for 2025, 1,420 for 2024, 1,705 for 2023, 1,428 for 2022 and 1,249 for 2021.
- Orange: 229 for 2025, 229 for 2024, 224 for 2023, 198 for 2022, 307 for 2021 and 105 for 2020.
- Bridge City: 85 for 2025, 105 for 2024, 109 for 2023, 143 for 2022, 98 for 2021 and 45 for 2020.
- Vidor: 78 for 2025, 63 for 2024, 62 for 2023, 82 for 2022, 99 for 2021 and 141 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- West Orange: 29 for 2025, 35 for 2024, 50 for 2023, 42 for 2022, 43 for 2021 and 22 for 2020.
- Pinehurst: 19 for 2025, 33 for 2024, 23 for 2023, 12 for 2022, 16 for 2021 and 5 for 2020.
- Rose City: 5 for 2025, 8 for 2024 and 13 for 2023.
Together, the seven agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,707 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,707 in 2025 against 1,893 in 2024, down 9.8 percent.
Through August 2026, the six agencies with every month so far on file reported 976 arrests, against 1,173 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Orange County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Orange County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 180 people on an average day, down from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 326 beds, and it is running at 55 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Orange County Sheriff's Office at co.orange.tx.us/county-warrants (page title: Welcome to the Official Website of Orange County, Texas | County Warrants), phone (409) 883-2612, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists its inmates at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Orange County
For Orange County the place to look is the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.orange.tx.us/AssistantDistrictAttorneys, phone (409) 883-6764).
Texas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3 a search, through the Texas Department of Public Safety. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Orange County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Texas Public Information Act the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge the copy rates set by the Attorney General, plus labor for large requests.
- An arrest by the Orange County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (409) 883-2612.
- An arrest in Orange, Bridge City, Vidor, West Orange, Pinehurst or Rose City: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Bridge City Independent School District: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, (409) 883-6764, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at orangecounty.nextrequest.com/requests/new (page title: NextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The other Orange County guides go further: police reports and property records.
Cities in Orange County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for six of the seven cities in Orange County: Orange, Bridge City, Vidor, West Orange, Pinehurst and Rose City. Pine Forest has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Orange County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Orange County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Vidor (9,686)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Orange County each year?
The Orange County Sheriff's Office reported 1,262 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the seven agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 1,707 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Orange County?
Ask the Orange County Sheriff's Office at (409) 883-2612; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at co.orange.tx.us/county-warrants.
Where are people arrested in Orange County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Orange County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Orange County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Texas Public Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Orange County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Orange County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at orangecounty.nextrequest.com/requests/new.
Is this the official Orange County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.